Learning about the LOTGD engine made me rethink about what and how games I want to play and to make.

Mapless: Moving around a map is mainly a waste of time, tedious stretching of play time. Especially 2D overhead view has been falling out of my favor for some years.

Endless content: Content, especially story and world design, is not my forte, very time consuming, but doesn't last long for the player to finish. Better design-to-play ratio in time and effort is repeatable, random, extensible (e.g. mods, levels, whole rosters of creatures and items) content.

Meaningful activities: Without the player lingering on superficial story and wandering pointlessly, the game could refocus on deeper combat and other activities, like socializing, collections, and achievements.

Browser-based: using web standards, like HTML, JS, CSS, PHP, SQL reaches the biggest audience that can be accessed at any time, any place, any device. Graphics optional, but HTML5 canvas and <img> & <video> tags are there if you want to use them. There are many advanced tools and frameworks for each component, like angular, bootstrap, etc.

Mods: One person or team can only create so much content for any given time and resources. In the same time frame, Communities can create lots of content aggregate for different gameplay, markets, themes, etc. Even for individual developer, with a supportive core engine, content can be gradually added and feel accomplished. Players/admins can choose mods and customize the game to their liking.

The key is really just a lean engine that handles the minimum interface between components and allows mods to do the rest. All you need is install the basic frameworks and make them talk to each other. No game logic, no items or creatures, no themes, no content--these will be added via mods. The engine's entire purpose is to support mods, thus it cannot have any preconditions that limit what type of mods can be made.

For instance, LOTGD has a bunch of core files to support the gameplay. So while it allows mods, the type of mods are restricted and tied directly to the core game files.

On the contrary, with a indiscriminate engine, creators can create different mods that have different gameplay styles. The server admin will decide what type of mods they want. If you don't like it, install the engine on your own server and install your own mods. Some mods will become more popular, that could lead to other mods dependent on them. But that's for the market to decide.

Suppose the gameplay in LOTGD was instead packaged as a mod separate from the engine. This opens up great opportunities. For one, this mod can be forked and modified as befits the server admin. Two, creators can create totally new combat engine, character stat system, etc. without messing with the core files, which would be nightmare for admins. Instead, the admin can simply uninstall the old combat mod and install a different mod.